Videos, Google-style search engine, blog, Facebook page – Millesima.com, one of the leading e-commerce site, is gearing up towards Web 2.0 level and entering the age of social media.

Millesima.com is positioned as a very high-end e-commerce site. It sells only 12-bottle cases of Bordeaux classified Growths, Burgundy or Rhone Valley wines. Their customers are passionate wine amateurs and connoisseurs. Prices are obviously high and there is no bargain or discounted prices. Millesima.com sells in Europe. In their US on line store, the offer differs slightly as it sells sought-after South American, Italian, American and Spanish wines.

The move towards Web 2.0 is not without danger. The image of Millesima is linked to the image of the Bordeaux Chateaux, Burgundy domains or Champagne houses the store sells – an image of excellence and prestige. Their chais hold over 2,000,000 bottles of the best wines in the world by cases of 12 or special formats (Magnums, jeroboams). That’s why its entry in the world of social media has to be well thought out. Gerard Spatafora, the Web Marketing Director, chose a rather elegant strategy. With the help of a former wine journalist and expert in communication, Frederic Lot, he launched a series of high quality videos about some of the estates and their wines sold by the company. Those videos are in three parts: a presentation of the estate, a more technical part and a third one wore consumer oriented with wine and food pairing or drinkability of the wine, for example. They’re implemented in a separate section of the site and have a different design. The videos are not meant only to sell more wines but also to share with Millesima’s customers the world of culture represented by prestige wines. At the moment, the videos are only in French but English and German versions are in the making. When the series will be completed, there will be 150 videos – one for each reference stored by Millesima. But even with only 3 videos, the section is like a little oasis of culture in the middle of an e-commerce site.

At the same time as Millesima launched the video section, it opened a Facebook page. It’s still a little too early to see any significant initative. For now their page is only announcing their events or the new features of the site. It needs a little kick up to become a real Web 2.0 tool in their communication strategy.

Let’s Millesima keep working on their Web 2.0 strategy. See you in a few months with more news on an innovative e-commerce site!